As per the assessment made by the department, India receives annual precipitation of about 3880 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM). After accounting for evaporation and evapo-transpiration etc, the average annual water resource in the Country has been assessed as 1999.20 BCM. Further, it has been estimated that owing to topographic, hydrological and other constraints, the utilizable water is around 1126 BCM which comprises of around 690 BCM of surface water and around 436 BCM of total annual ground water recharge. 

Though Water is a State subject, Central Government has taken a number of important measures for conservation, management of ground water and effective implementation of rain water harvesting through scientific manner including watershed principles in the country, which can be seen at URL:http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf. Some of the important initiatives in this regard are also given at Annexure.

Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has formulated guidelines for the States to adopt measures suitable to local conditions, such as Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL) of Delhi, 2016, Model Building Bye Laws (MBBL), 2016 and Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014, wherein adequate focus has been given on requirement of rainwater harvesting and water conservation measures.

In addition, a number of States have done notable work in the field of water conservation/harvesting such as ‘MukhyamantriJalSwavlambanAbhiyan’ in Rajasthan, ‘JalyuktShibar’ in Maharashtra, ‘SujalamSufalamAbhiyan’ in Gujarat, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana, NeeruChettu’ in Andhra Pradesh, JalJeevanHariyali in Bihar, ‘Jal Hi Jeevan’ in Haryana, and Kudimaramath scheme in Tamil Nadu.
This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, ShriBishweswarTudu in a written  reply in RajyaSabha today.

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 ANNEXURE
 

Important initiatives on management of groundwater resources

Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019, a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of 256 districts in India. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit water stressed districts and to work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertake suitable interventions. 

In addition, Ministry of Jal Shakti has taken up the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA:CTR) with the theme “Catch the Rain - Where it Falls When it Falls” to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country during 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021. The campaign was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 22 March 2021. 

Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR (DoWR, RD & GR) is implementing AtalBhujalYojana (AtalJal), a Rs.6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation. AtalJal is being implemented in 81 water stressed districts and 8,774 Gram Panchayats of seven States viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. 

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), in consultation with States/UTs, has prepared ‘Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater - 2020’. The Master Plan – 2020 is a macro level plan indicating various structures for the different terrain conditions of the country.  The Master Plan - 2020 envisages construction of about 1.42 crore rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the country to harness 185 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) of Monsoon rainfall.

National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM) is being implemented by CGWB as part of Ground Water Management and Regulation (GWM & R) Scheme, a Central Sector scheme. NAQUIM envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of groundwater resources in the country. NAQUIM outputs are shared with States/UTs for suitable interventions. 
Government of India generally supports artificial groundwater recharge/water harvesting works in the country through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Prime Minister KrishiSinchayeeYojana - Watershed Development component (PMKSY-WDC), ‘Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) and Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies schemes’, a component of PMKSY.

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BY/AS

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